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<p><SPAN class="panel-title"> Self Publishing: Where does it fit in the Literary Food Chain? -- BayCon 2012 </SPAN> <SPAN class="dateline"> 27.05.2012 11.30h </SPAN></p>
<ul class="taglist">
<li class="tags">
Self Publishing
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<li class="tags">
Publishing
</li>
<li class="tags">
Traditional Publishing
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<li class="tags">
Small Press
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<li class="tags">
Business
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<li class="tags">
Amazon
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<li class="tags">
Vanity Press
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<DIV class="intro">
Between Amazon and Barnes &amp; Noble, self-publishing has taken off; no longer the classical vanity press, often seen as the redheaded stepchild. Is it? Should it be? Where does this fit in the food chain, or is this about to become the Shark?
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<h3 id="notes">Notes</h3>
<div class="notes">

<p>Publishing is broken. Big publishers (&quot;the big six&quot;) don't know what it is (or has become) to be a publisher.</p>
<p><em><em>Don't</em> look like a self published book.</em></p>
<p>80% of all self-published authors sell 500 books or fewer. They sell fewer than 5 books a month on Amazon. &quot;There's a swamp of crap with a few lilly pads. And on those few lilly pads, a few have flowers.&quot;</p>
<p>But the 10% that's not crap differs from person to person.</p>
<p>Quality control is a HUGE issue. The writer must do it ALL now. And s/he must learn it or buy it -- you can't edit your own work. Family (unless they have the professional skills and are brutally honest) doesn't count.</p>
<p>Don't read the 5 star reviews of a work, read the 1-3 star reviews. 5 star reviews might well be the writer, sock puppet or friends/family of the writer.</p>
<p>Find review sites, and which of those can be trusted.</p>
<p>&quot;World Literary Alliance&quot; -- a collaboration of several writers who share publishing duties.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiebookcollective.wordpress.com/">Indy Book Collective</a> -- marketing tools for writers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/apr/30/author-collectives-self-publishing">Author collectives</a> (e.g., <a href="http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/">BookView Cafe</a> or <a href="http://www.rockitreads.com/">Rock*It Reads</a>) help in the publishing duties.</p>
<p>Follow writers on Twitter, FB, blogs, etc. Also go to Worldcon and World Fantasy Convention.</p>
<p>How do you find editors in a subgenre? Look for the editors for authors you know and read. Also by word of mouth.</p>
<p>Read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Poynters-Self-Publishing-Manual-Write/dp/1568601425">Dan Poynter's Self Publishing Manual</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Guide-Self-Publishing-Everything/dp/1582977186">Ross, Marylin. The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://calwriters.org/">California Writer's Club</a> has guides on what to do. It should cost about $1k to edit a 100k word work.</p>
<p>Keep writing -- but balance that with 'creating a platform'.</p>
<p>Self-publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.</p>
<h3 id="internet-self-publishing-and-building-a-platform">Internet self-publishing and 'building a platform'</h3>
<p>Never reply to criticism (other than perhaps minor factural errors) -- it usually has bad results but also takes time away from writing.</p>
<p>If you can't do something well, hire someone. And creating a business relationship with friends is risky.</p>
<p>A decent cover design can run $500, not a lot in the grand scheme of things. Also, a web design can run $500.</p>
<h3 id="self-publishing">Self-Publishing</h3>
<p>Let readers do your word-of-mouth publicity.</p>
<p>Get out and see people, network with fans, writers, editors, and publishers. Be gracious when talking to others. <em>Virtual Book Tours</em> are just one tool. 80% of promotion is wasted -- but you won't know in advance.</p>
<p>Go both ways, do both self-publishing and submit to the Big Six. The Big Six don't know how to do ebooks.</p>
<p>Make sure there's a revision clause in your contract, that if the work is not published within a certain time, the rights revert. Also don't allow POD to count for that. Having the time limit on reversion is hard but not impossible.</p>
<p>Self-publishing won't hurt sales to the Big Six.</p>
<p>Are there types of books not suitable for ebooks? Big art books/architecture books.</p>
<p>Use the formats best for your work.</p>
<p>Stigma is still there for self-publishing but is rapidly diminishing.</p>
You must still deliever to the reader.
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